


At Whatever Cost

by ashyblondwaves



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), WandaVision (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Neighbors, Angst, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff, Human Vision (Marvel), Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-11
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-18 09:53:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29981088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ashyblondwaves/pseuds/ashyblondwaves
Summary: Wanda Maximoff has lived in Westview New Jersey for a year now. Plagued by what doctors have been calling Anxiety and stuck in a rut of old sitcoms and working as a NICU Nurse at the local hospital, her days aren't much to write home about. But when her new neighbor, Victor Shade, moves in, things start to change for Wanda in both good and bad ways and at times it feels like Victor knows more about Wanda than she knows about herself. Can Victor help Wanda make sense of things or will his presence just make it worse? Wanda is willing to find out. At whatever cost.
Relationships: Wanda Maximoff/Vision
Comments: 14
Kudos: 50





	1. Welcome Wagon

**Author's Note:**

> I have this marked as explicit for future chapters. I figured it'd be easier to just mark it the way it's going to go right from the start so I don't surprise anybody along the way. This first chapter is a T rating but that will change. 
> 
> Come hang out with me on Tumblr! I'm ashyblondwaves there, too.

“Speed it up a little!”

A clamor of laughter, a slurp from a coffee mug; these were all familiar sounds in Wanda Maximoff’s home on a Saturday morning. She sat perched in the middle of the couch clad in a maroon tank top and matching plaid pajama pants watching the  _ Job Switching  _ episode of “I Love Lucy” for what must have been the hundredth time. Watching old sitcoms was a Saturday morning tradition she’d had since she was a child. Just because she was grown and out on her own didn’t mean she had to stop that tradition. 

Her phone pinged.

**_Pietro: Make sure you change out of your pajamas today._ **

Wanda and her twin brother Pietro talked every single day. Their text conversations were miles long and if they went a week without seeing each other, nothing felt right with the world. But today, Pietro’s comment cut her a little deeper than she wanted to admit. 

**_Wanda: Don’t tell me what to do._ **

Since Pietro’s wedding a year ago, Wanda was spending more and more time alone. She hated to admit it, but some days she  _ had _ stayed in her pajamas all day. Some days, the only thing keeping her from staying in bed watching TV was her job as a NICU nurse at the local hospital. 

**_Pietro: How have you been feeling?_ **

Truth be told, not great. For the better part of the year, she’d been feeling  _ off. _ She had frequent bouts of hot flashes that seemed to originate and radiate from her stomach as well as tingling and numbness in her hands and arms more often than not.

The doctors all told her it was anxiety and dismissed her with prescriptions for Klonopin and Prozac, neither of which did anything to stop the uncomfortable sensations her body was feeling on a daily basis. 

**_Wanda: No change there. And please don’t tell me to go to another doctor. I’ve seen six already._ **

  
  


**_Pietro: Ok I won’t say it even though I am thinking about it. Any plans for the day?_ **

He was prying and she knew it. Trying to gauge whether or not she really would put on regular clothes and do something with her day.

**_Wanda: I don’t know, Pietro. It’s my day off. I’ll figure it out as I go._ **

She knew he meant well, but the implication ticked her off. She wasn’t a kid that needed her hand held or needed to be reminded to do simple tasks. She flung her phone down on the couch and turned her attention back to the TV. Lucy was now stuck with a mouth full of chocolate as the conveyor belt just kept feeding more out to her and Ethel. 

“Knock knock!” A shrill, muffled voice called from the front door as they also physically knocked at the same time. Wanda knew who it was immediately. 

Agnes. 

Friendly, nosey, too chipper for this world Agnes. She had lived in the neighborhood for years, always the first to know what was going on and the last to forget it. 

Wanda opened the door reluctantly to reveal her smiling neighbor who didn’t wait to be invited in before walking through the doorway and spinning around. Far too chipper for a Saturday morning. 

“Have you  _ seen _ ?” she asked, pointing toward the front window. 

Of course Wanda hadn’t seen. She’d only been awake for an hour and most of that hour was spent in front of the TV with her coffee. Slowly, she walked up to the front window and peered out. Next door, parked in front of the tree lawn, was a moving truck and in the driveway of the vacant house, two luxury cars. 

It looked like there was a new resident in Westview, New Jersey. 

People milled around the front yard, each one with a box in their arms and hats pulled low over their heads. Wanda squinted. A couple of them looked really familiar, but they were moving so fast and efficiently it was next to impossible to get a good glimpse at any of them. 

“Did you know anyone was moving in Agnes?” Wanda asked, slowly lowering herself down into the bay window seat at the front of the house.”I didn’t even see a for sale sign go back up.”

The house had been vacant for the entire year Wanda had lived in Westview, with countless failed attempts at selling it in that time. A sign would go up, stay up for a little while and then come back down a couple months later after little to no interest. 

“I heard some whispers of it but never saw anyone come to look at the place,” Agnes explained, plopping down next to Wanda in the bay window. “So I thought maybe the whispers weren’t true.”

Wanda fixed her attention back to the activity going on next door, allowing Agnes to stay as long as she stayed quiet. But it was Agnes, of course. The silence was inevitably short-lived. 

“I wonder which one is the homeowner,” she squawked loudly. “I’m hoping it’s that cutie with the nice rear-end. Shhh, don’t tell Ralph I said that.”

“I don’t think it’s any of the movers,” Wanda said, suddenly unable to look away from the action. It must have been a long time since she’d had fun if she was considering watching someone move into their new home as action. “I think it’s him.” She tapped on the window to get Agnes to look. 

In the midst of the moving chaos was another man Wanda hadn’t noticed until that moment. Tall, blonde and dressed in black slacks and a gray sweater. He stood in the middle of the front lawn looking a bit lost. At his feet was a small dog circling his legs and nipping at his pants.

“Oh now that’s just adorable!” Agnes bellowed, slapping her knee in amusement. “Wanda? Isn’t that adorable? Wanda! Earth to Wanda!”

The shrill voice eventually pulled her out of the trance she seemed to be in after noticing the new man on the premises. When she finally snapped out of it she noticed that she had her hand pressed to the window longingly. She pulled her hand away quickly and set both hands in her lap, hoping beyond hope that Agnes hadn’t noticed, but the look she felt Agnes giving her told what she already knew: nothing gets by Agnes.

“We have to go say hello!” Agnes decided. “Go get dressed!”

“Agnes!” Wanda hissed, getting fed up her pushy neighbor. “The man hasn’t even gotten everything put into his home yet. The last thing he needs is us bombarding him.”

Agnes scoffed. “You’re beside yourself over here honey, you need to go say hello to that cutie!”

“Agnes,” Wanda said, shaking her head. “There’ll be other far more appropriate moments to go and introduce myself. And I’m  _ not _ beside myself. I’ve seen men before.”

“Sure, honey, but you’ve never seen this one,” Agnes said with a wink and a laugh, pulling Wanda from the bay window and gently pushing her toward her room. “Go get dressed!”

The brazen way that Agnes just came into her home and started bossing her around was not lost on Wanda and she could feel the uncomfortable warmth pooling in her gut and radiating up her arms and down to her hands. The tingling sensation started immediately. But the only reason Wanda didn’t protest and refuse was because she knew how Agnes could be. If she refused to go introduce herself, Agnes would go and bring the man over to her house instead and that was the last thing she wanted.

She emerged ten minutes later in a simple pair of dark wash jeans and a rose colored short sleeved blouse, tied at the bottom.

“Looking good, toots!” Agnes said, grabbing Wanda by the hand and dragging her out the front door. Wanda still didn’t protest, she just let her neighbor drag her across her house and toward the man standing on the lawn watching the movers go by. 

“Heeeey, new neighbor!” Agnes yelled as they made their way onto the property. “Welcome Wagon here to say hello!”

The movers scattered quickly, almost suspiciously, into the moving truck and stayed there. Stopping all moving tasks while Agnes and Wanda were on the property.

Wanda could’ve sworn one of the movers was Tony Stark, but that was impossible. Tony Stark hired people to move his stuff, not the other way around. 

“I’m Agnes,” the nosey neighbor spoke, extending her hand toward the new resident of Westview. 

“Victor,” the stranger replied, a British accent making itself noticeable immediately.

Victor had hold of Agnes’ hand, but he was looking straight at Wanda. 

“I see you’ve noticed your neighbor, Wanda,” Agnes laughed, ignoring the look of death Wanda was giving her. “I think that’s my sign to mosey on home. Nice to meet you, Victor!”

“Agnes!” Wanda sneered through gritted teeth. “Don’t you dare!” 

But Agnes turned and walked away, leaving Wanda standing in the new neighbor’s front yard with him, alone. 

“Look, I’m really sorry to have bothered you when you’re trying to move in, but Agnes insisted,” Wanda started, not hesitating to throw her neighbor under the bus after abandoning her like that. Wanda took a step back. “But I’ll leave you to finish moving in, I’m sure I’ll see you around.” 

“Wait,” Victor said, extending his hand in Wanda’s direction. “Wanda. It’s really nice to meet you. If we’re going to be neighbors it’s only right that we’re properly introduced, without the third party. Victor Shade.”

“Nice to meet you, Victor.” As she took his hand, the little dog, still at Victor’s feet, made its presence known. 

“Sparky,” Victor smiled. “He’d like to say hello, as well.” 

Wanda smiled back a knelt down to get closer to the little dog. 

“Hi, Sparky,” she cooed, scratching the dog behind the ears as Victor knelt down with them. “He’s adorable.” 

“He’s well aware,” Victor said, shaking his head as the dog jumped up into Wanda’s arms. “I think he likes you.” 

Wanda laughed as the dog’s small tongue lapped at her cheek. For a moment, she almost forgot that she was kneeling on her new neighbor’s lawn with him huddled in close to her as she let his dog lick her face. 

“I’m so sorry,” Wanda apologized, gently setting Sparky back down on the grass. She stood up and dusted the grass from her jeans. “I really should let you get back to moving in.” But when she looked into the moving truck, the movers were all seated at the edge of the truck with their heads down, eating sandwiches.

“Lunch break,” Victor said with a shrug. “It looks like they’ll be busy for a bit longer.”

He didn’t come right out and say it, but the implication was there. He wanted her to stay, and against her better judgement, she stayed rooted to the spot. 

“So Wanda, have you known Agnes for long?” Victor asked, picking up Sparky and holding him close. 

“As long as I’ve lived here in Westview,” Wanda said, reluctantly reaching out to pet Sparky. “So about a year now.” 

“She seems… nice.” 

“We’ll go with that,” Wanda laughed. “Most of the time she means well, but it can be a lot sometimes.” 

“Well if you ever need a place to hide,” Victor said, motioning towards his new home. “The door is always open for you.”

“I appreciate that,” Wanda said sincerely. “But don’t think your place is safe from Agnes. She’ll find you too.” 

As the pair laughed, Wanda noticed the movers cleaning up their lunch. She took that as her cue to leave. 

“It looks like your movers are ready to resume,” Wanda said, motioning with her head toward the truck. “I’ll get out of your way, but if you need anything, I’ll be home all day so don’t be afraid to stop by.”

Did she just invite this virtual stranger over to her house ten minutes after meeting him? She did. 

“Thank you, Wanda,” Victor replied, looking down at the dog still in his arms. “We’ll see you around. Hopefully sooner rather than later.” 

“See you around.” 

With a wave at the new neighbor and his adorable dog, Wanda turned on her heel and started the walk back to her house. 

She only looked back twice. 

  
  
  
  
  
  



	2. Nightmares

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wanda and Victor grow closer as her past comes back to haunt her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come hang out on Tumblr, I'm ashyblondwaves there too!

_ Dirty feet were pressed flush to the cold ground and a damp, musty smell lingered in the air. Wanda sat in the corner of the small cell, curled in on herself, shaking as she took in the space around her. There was no furniture, no lights and no way out but a locked steel door.  _

_ Her throat hurt from screaming for days on end. She screamed for help; screamed for someone to tell her what was going on, but nobody ever did. It wasn’t until the sound of heavy footsteps and clattering keys echoed through the cell that she finally knew she wasn’t alone. _

_ The door swung open, the rusty hinges protesting loudly as a tall, burly man walked in. He said nothing, simply summoning Wanda with a dirty finger pointed in her direction. She stood on shaky legs, staring the man right in the eyes.  _

_ “Where’s my brother?”  _

_ The man stayed silent.  _

_ “Why are you doing this to us?”  _

_ No answer. He didn’t even act like he heard her. Instead, he reached out and roughly grabbed Wanda’s shirt, dragging her down a dark hallway to a new cell. He threw her in and closed the door loudly, leaving her standing there alone once again.  _

_ She heard movement on the other side of the room but couldn’t see anything beyond the bright light a few feet in front of her. She walked toward it and just before she reached it she heard a low voice say, “Now.” _

_ And then.. pain. Searing, burning pain coursing through Wanda’s body as a blinding yellow light flashed in front of her like a strobe light. _

Wanda sat up in bed, her breath coming in jagged waves. Every muscle in her body screamed with the same pain felt in her dream; a dream she’d had many times before but never could make any sense of. The pain would subside in a few minutes, it always did. But Wanda wouldn’t be going back to sleep. The fear of the nightmare was too strong. 

She looked at the clock; 3:37am. With a sigh, Wanda pulled herself out of bed and padded into the kitchen as the last aches drained from the tips of her fingers. She fixed a quick cup of coffee and went out to the porch, settling into her favorite chair and letting the warm summer air envelop her. 

“Go get it, Sparky!” 

The familiar voice filled the air, grabbing Wanda’s attention immediately. She looked in the direction the voice came from and caught sight of Victor out on his front lawn, just barely illuminated by the flood light on the front of his house. Why was he playing fetch with the dog at almost 4 in the morning?

Wanda had seen a lot of Victor over the last few weeks. Sometimes their visits were short. A quick hello before they headed off to work with sincere wishes for the other to have a good day . Other times, they stayed together longer, talking about anything just so they could spend a little more time together. What flowers could Victor plant in the front yard? What music have they been listening to? 

As it turned out, Victor was much more into reading. He spent a lot of time telling Wanda about what he’d be reading and what he’d like to read next. 

There was something bubbling between them. Wanda felt it the day they met and it had been simmering just at the surface ever since. Their glances always lasted too long, eyes always lingering on each other’s lips. And there were touches. Light brushes of hands against each other’s skin made to seem accidental but were most certainly planned. 

With each visit, it always felt like they were one step away from something more. 

Wanda found herself wondering,  _ what would happen if I invited him to come over? _

Wanda watched Victor and Sparky for a bit. Victor held the smallest tennis ball Wanda had ever seen as the dog trotted up to him and came to sit at his feet. 

“Good boy,” Victor said, showing the dog the tennis ball before throwing it again. 

“A little early in the morning for fetch, don’t you think?” Wanda said, just loud enough for Victor to hear her. 

Victor turned to the sound of her voice. “I’m trying to tire him out,” he explained. “He’s been running around the house since 11. I think the move has his circadian rhythm a little out of sorts.”

“Well I’m glad to see you out here,” Wanda confessed, contemplating her next sentence. “I could really use some company right now.”

By now, Victor knew he didn’t have to be invited to join Wanda. With Sparky following at his feet, they climbed the steps to the porch. 

Sparky immediately went to Wanda, hopping up into her lap and making himself comfortable in her lap as Victor pulled an empty chair up closer to Wanda. 

“I sensed that you weren’t out here at this hour for good reasons,” Victor said, settling into his seat. “And with coffee. Pardon me for saying so but it looks like you may be trying to avoid sleep.” 

“Am I that obvious?” Wanda sighed, looking down at Sparky as she spoke the next words. “I just have this… nightmare sometimes. I’m locked up in a place that I’ve never been but it still feels so familiar. So real. And when I wake up, I’m in pain.”

“Physical pain?” Victor asked, leaning forward to give Wanda his full attention. 

“Like my whole body is on fire,” Wanda said. “It goes away after a few minutes, but it always makes me terrified to go back to sleep-” 

“For fear it’ll happen again,” Victor completed as Wanda nodded.

Wanda wasn’t sure why she was telling Victor about her nightmare. She’d never told anyone before, not even Pietro. It was a secret she’d been carrying for several years, finally brought to light by her new neighbor.

“It never changes, either. The nightmare is exactly the same every single time,” Wanda explained. “I’m in a cell, a man comes in, I ask him where I am and where my brother is, he ignores me but takes me to another, larger cell with a single bright light until an even brighter yellow light flashes and my body screams in pain. That’s always when I wake up.” 

It was a lot to unload on a new friend at such a ridiculous hour, but the flood gates had been opened and there was no going back. 

“I’m really sorry that you have to go through that,” Victor said softly, reaching out and grabbing Wanda’s free hand. “How often does this happen?”

“I used to go months without it happening,” Wanda started. She took a sip of her coffee as she chose her next words. “But about a year ago -- I remember it was right after my brother’s wedding and just before I moved here to Westview -- it started happening every few weeks and it's been that way ever since.”

“It sounds like your brother’s wedding triggered something in your subconscious,” Victor suggested thoughtfully. “I take it you’re close with him?”

Wanda nodded. She wouldn’t say it out loud but she knew what Pietro’s wedding triggered in her: loneliness. They’d been partners in crime from the day they were born and suddenly in one day they’d each picked a different path to walk down. 

“And you’re positive you don’t know the place in the nightmare?”

“Would it make sense if I said I didn’t know where it was but feel like I’ve been there anyway?” Wanda asked. 

“It makes sense,” Victor assured her. His voice was soft and sympathetic and his eyes never strayed from Wanda’s for too long. “I do hope you’re able to rest soon.” 

“Maybe after work. I have a shift in a few hours,” Wanda said sheepishly. “What about you? Shouldn’t you be sleeping for work?”

“Sleep eludes me most of the time,” Victor confessed. “It’s not something I need much of.”

“Would you like some coffee?”

“Thank you, but no,” Victor said. “I don’t drink coffee.” 

They stayed on the porch together talking for hours after that. Victor listened as Wanda talked about her job and Wanda listened as Victor talked about how Sparky wandered into his life as a stray and had been with him ever since.

When the sun started to break through the trees across the street, they knew their time was up for the day. 

“If I didn’t have to get ready for work I’d let him stay right here all day,” Wanda said, looking down at Sparky curled up, asleep on her lap. It was then that she noticed she and Victor were still holding hands.

Reluctantly, she let go of his hand and relinquished the sleepy pup to his owner. 

“Thanks for the company this morning. It really helped clear my mind.” 

She wanted to invite him to the house. God how she wanted to invite him in. 

“Our pleasure,” Victor smiled. He stayed rooted to the spot, clearly not wanting to leave. “I hope you have a good day at work.”

_ Just go for it. It was time for the pot to bubble over. _

Before Wanda could stop herself, she stood from her chair and rose up on her tiptoes, making herself just tall enough to press a kiss to Victor’s lips. To Wanda’s delight, he kissed her back in earnest, snaking his freehand up to cup her cheek. 

She wasn’t sure how long they were kissing, but she didn’t want it to stop.

When they finally pulled apart, there was a sense of relief in the air; like a locked door had finally been opened and anything was possible between them.

“Will you come over tonight?” Wanda asked, reaching up to hold Victor’s hand that still cupped her cheek. She needed to see him again. “We could watch TV, keep each other company.”  _ Kiss a little more.  _

“I’d really like that,” Victor said, nodding. “I’ll be over after dinner.”

“Sparky, too?” 

“Sparky, too.”

With that, Victor broke away and left the porch, making the walk across the yard to his house. Wanda watched him the entire way, thinking of nothing but seeing him again that night. 

As she moved through her house that morning, getting ready for work, she couldn’t help but think about Victor. How intently he listened to her, the way he looked at her the entire morning and of course, the kiss. He’d kissed her back. She’d carry the feeling of his lips on her with her the entire day. 

It was time for her to admit to herself that she’d never been more attracted to someone in her life. There was a connection between them, she could feel it. She just hoped that Victor felt it too. 

***

Victor paced back and forth in his living room, torn over what he was going to do. 

On one hand it was his job to report the details that changed the mission he was sent to Westview to complete. But on the other hand, Wanda had trusted him enough to tell him about the nightmares. To run and tell someone else felt wrong.

Being around Wanda was not what he was expecting it to be when he was briefed on her and given the objective for the mission. It was to be an undercover mission in case she was dangerous or a threat to the team and he’d call himself Victor. She couldn’t know who or what he was until it was time. Safety was the top priority. And detached conversations only, he was told. Just enough to entice her to at least visit The Avengers Compound to talk about joining them. 

But she was nothing like what they told him. They said she was powerful and potentially dangerous. They told him to be prepared to defend himself while trying to convince her to come to their side and that it’d probably take a long time to wear her down; hence the house. He wasn’t sure where they’d gotten their information on her, but it was wildly inaccurate and that had to be known. If she was anything, Wanda Maximoff was the most welcome distraction from a mission that he’d ever had.

From the moment they met there was something that made him want to forget the mission and tell her everything. Having to hear her call him by a name that wasn’t his was maddening. His name wasn’t Victor, it was Vision. He wanted to show her who he was, not the man in disguise she’d known him as but as the Synthezoid he actually was. 

And now to muddy the waters further, they’d kissed that morning and he knew they’d kiss again.

He still felt the heat of her lips on his. For the first time ever he found himself questioning what that meant for them, what that meant for him. 

His attraction to Wanda was a new sensation for him entirely. Being as attached to a human as he already was to her had never happened to him before. And part of him was even able to feel guilt over knowing more about her than she knew about herself. After such a short time knowing her he already wanted to keep her safe from the dangers that were sure to plague her once she learned who she was. 

He’d be content to just consider it a failed mission just to keep her safe. Maybe he’d stay in Westview as Vision the Avenger, live quietly with Wanda right next door. Enjoy a few stolen kisses with her. Maybe more. But he knew that couldn’t happen. Not with the nightmares constantly trying to remind Wanda of what happened to her. She’d never be at peace in Westview without knowing who she is first. 

Finally, with her safety and wellbeing in mind, he grabbed his phone and made the call, determined to keep as much of what Wanda revealed to him between the two of them. All he needed to convey was what her confession meant to the mission. 

“Mr. Stark, it’s Vision,” he stated, holding the phone to his ear with his shoulder as he continued pacing the living room. “We have a problem with the mission. It appears Miss Maximoff is not aware of what she is capable of and has no memory of what happened to her.”

“Why are you calling me this early?” Tony asked first. He yawned loudly into the phone. “And what do you mean she doesn’t know? How can someone not remember being one of Hydra’s guinea pigs for the better part of a year?”

“I talked with her for several hours this morning and I can assure you, she is not aware. She has no conscious memory of her time with Hydra nor does she know of her powers.” 

“How do you know she’s not lying to you?”

He saw her face when he came up onto the porch. Bloodshot eyes, all the color drained from her features. It was not the face of a liar. 

“I’ve seen liars before and she’s not one of them. And if I may say I do think you may be wrong about this entire thing.”

“Well we’re not gonna know that unless she remembers what happened.” Tony said, keeping it short. “You know what you have to do, right?” 

“Sir?”

“ _ Make  _ her remember.” 

Tony ended the call.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
